Star Wars Resistance Review

Rebels may have ended earlier this year but Lucasfilm and Disney have already rolled out a new Star Wars animated series based on the new trilogy. The series takes place 5 months before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will resolve around a new pilot being hired by the Resistance to spy on the activities of the emerging First Order.

STORY

Star Wars Resistance resolves around an eager young space pilot named Kazuda Xiono (Christopher Sean) who is recruited by Poe Dameron ( Oscar Issac) during an First Order attack to infiltrate their ranks and report on their activities to the Resistance. But after he walks in on a meeting between him and General Leia Organa (Who does not speak in the pilot but voiced by Rachel Butera) , he is taken to the port planet Castilon where we get to meet some new additions to the Star Wars universe along with some classic species.

At a bar, Kaz accidentally causes a fight during a dart game when a creature offers a rigged dart which lands on one of the biggest bar flies. Kaz also gets signed up in a space race when a new pilot named Neeku (Josh Brener) overhears Kaz bragging about his flying skills when Kaz tries recruiting a legendary pilot into the Resistance.

Kaz must now face Torra Dozza in a space race through hoops.When offered who to race against first, he picks a new younger female pilot much to the ridicule of the audience around him. When Kaz complains about not having a ship, Neeku and the legendary pilot offer up their ship Fireball for the race.

Kaz soon meets the other member of the Fireball crew which includes Tam, a female mechanic who is not too pleased about the new addition. The team soon sets out to fix the ship while Yeager still thinks it is a long cause and that Kaz will end up losing.

ANIMATION

The animation for Star Wars Resistance is being handled by Japanese studio Polygon Pictures which handled the Transformers Prime animated series for Hasbro and TRON Uprising for Walt Disney Television Animation. The animation is a whole brighter compared to other Star Wars productions using a new cel shaded style which gives off an anime vibe.

The facial expressions on the characters are a whole lot more expressive than they were for Clone Wars and Rebels. But its only downside is the frame count, like with Netflix’s recent Dragon Prince, some scenes have less frame counts than others which can be a bit jarring for some fans. But overall, compared to popular belief, I love the animation style of Star Wars Resistance.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While I wish this first episode was a more complete story like the pilot of Star Wars Rebels was, it is still a great introduction to a whole new slice of the Star Wars Universe which made up of another team of young Rebels taking on the First Order. While cameos of Captain Phasma and Kylo Ren will still be set up in the future, I cannot wait to see who else from the Star Wars Universe shows up, maybe a bit of Rey would be nice to help set up what she did prior to the movies.

While it is no Clone Wars or Rebels, Star Wars Resistance is a great addition to a long line of well executed animated content based on the galaxy far far away. The series will premiere on Disney XD later this month.